A jawan shot dead a head constable and another colleague and critically injured a second head constable before shooting himself dead in Tripura this morning.

Unofficial sources claimed the jawan was shot by colleagues when he went berserk.

The injured head constable was battling for life at G.B. Hospital at Agartala late tonight. Doctors said the chance of him surviving was slim.

The incident occurred at Borabari in Gandacherra subdivision of Dhalai district.

Superintendent of police (operations) Nepal Das said a quarrel broke out within members of a road-opening patrol comprising jawans of the CRPF’s 136th Battalion.

This patrol had left Gandacherra at 7am to escort vehicles on the road to Ambassa.

Around 10am, constable Bisram Singh, 32, opened fire on his colleagues from his service self-loading rifle.

He gunned down 38-year-old head constable B.K. Sharma and 31-year-old constable R.K. Shil Sharma on the spot. Another head constable, S.S. Ram, was critically wounded.

“According to the report we have received, the assailant, Bisram Singh, committed suicide shortly after killing and injuring his colleagues,” Nepal Das said.

However, according to another version received through unofficial channels, the rampaging Bisram Singh was shot dead by his comrades.

Shortly after receiving information about the incident, Dhalai superintendent of police Aneesh Prasad rushed to the spot with a large contingent of security personnel. Senior officials of the CRPF also rushed to the spot.

CRPF officials and spokesmen, however, deliberately avoided speaking to reporters and remained incommunicado all through the day.

Highly placed government sources, however, said on condition of anonymity that a number of stress-induced killings had taken place earlier, but CRPF officials were yet to address the problem.